Of Detentions and Mixed Signals
by Aeneid
Summary: Prompt request fic based on every life in modern-day Japan. Kagura is labeled a delinquent in her school, and she simply can't seem to get along with Okita Sougo, who does nothing but piss her off. Sougo, on the other hand, is unable to convey his feelings properly . How will the two deal with one another? Heavy hints of GinTsuki included. Rated T for Kagura's foul mouth.
1. Chapter 1

Crossposted from Tumblr.

This fic is a prompt request from Rin of Tumblr (her current URL is rintama). She wanted a fic based on Class President!Sougo x Delinquent!Kagura, but I ended up adding GinTsuki to the mix because of reasons.

I hope everyone will enjoy this fic. I struggled with this, and I hope it will be to your liking.

This is an AU fic, and not based on the 3Z Universe. Lastly, this is not my usual okikagu fic, so please be warned.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gintama. It belongs to Sorachi Hideaki.

* * *

Of Detentions and Mixed Signals

* * *

_Chapter 1_

* * *

She dreaded going to detention.

Not that it was her first time to do so, but the one who was going to keep an eye on her would be the student council president, who also doubled as the president of their class, and the guy whom she really couldn't stand.

Okita Sougo was a total jerk who was a show-off, a fake, and an asshole while no one was looking. She had always bore the brunt of his bad attitude, as he seemed to love picking on her. Because the asshole was the epitome of perfection in their school, he was always careful not to expose his jerkass side, and she took advantage of this fact by provoking himself endlessly. She had been labelled as a 'delinquent' by him and his stupid fangirls because of her crazy antics, but she hardly cared about such. Better a delinquent than a slut, she always said.

It was just too bad that she stopped her antics a week ago after the fangirls had gone too far and pushed her down the stairs, resulting in a broken arm that would take weeks to heal. With her arm now in a cast, her dominant arm was now rendered useless, and before long, Okita began calling her a 'dumbass'.

_Guess that jerkass is too thick not to realize that his fangirls nearly killed me._

It was yet another unfortunate incident wherein he had been the one who found her while she was silently crying in pain from the fall. After sending her to the clinic and accompanying her to the hospital until her guardian-slash-father arrived, he had started whispering the words 'dumbass' whenever possible. It had gotten out of hand when it became an everyday occurrence, until he had gotten out of hand with his insults. The thinly-veiled insults became blatant, and before she knew it, the whole school had joined in with the name calling.

So incensed was she that one day, while Okita Sougo did his rounds, before he could open his mouth to insult her, she had used the cast on her dominant arm to bash his pretty face, resulting in him bleeding from the nose and his face bruising pretty badly. Her actions resulted in her getting a whole week's detention, but she gave no fucks.

The satisfaction she felt after seeing his pain face was worth it.

Sure, she had to make an alibi to her dad as to why she had to be late in going home for the whole week, but it was because she didn't want him to worry too much. He was too busy with being a daddy, and she didn't want to add her problem to his own.

_Well, whatever. Two more days, and I'm done._

On her second to the last day of detention, something… weird happened between her and the student council president.

Something unexpected, weird, and… mind boggling.

* * *

"_Aho Sakata_."

That was his usual greeting to her whenever she got inside the detention room, and whenever they met each other at school. More often than not, she would roll her eyes at him and glare, but this time around, she kept her eyes on the ground and sat on the chair carefully. Her casted arm was irritating her despite it being part of her for two weeks already, and as much as she wanted to remove the damn thing already, she couldn't. It would take four more weeks for her bone to heal, and that would mean more hardship on her part. It didn't help that she had to use her left hand to do _everything_, from writing notes to eating. Her penmanship was yet another issue that Okita turned into a big deal, as well as her clumsy way of handling chopsticks, but that didn't stop her from trying to stab him with either a ball-point pen or her disposable chopsticks when no one was looking.

"What, no insults today?" he taunted.

_Ignore him, Kagura. He's not worth it. Think of later, when you get home… babies!_

Her [step] mommy (she didn't care if the gorgeous lady was her stepmother. Family was family.) Tsukuyo had given birth to twins on the week she had her arm in a cast. Coincidentally, she had been sent to the very same hospital where Tsukki was staying, and that helped Gintoki quite a lot in dividing his time between her and his wife. Kagura, in her own way, had taken care of her siblings, though she had yet to carry them in her arms. A broken arm was unsafe when it came to handling new-borns, and that was the last thing she wanted to happen.

_Well, time to practice my sucky penmanship._

She picked up a pen from the desk, and opened the penmanship book that was laid out before her, until Okita banged his hand on her desk. "Oi, are you listening to me?" he yelled.

"What now? I'm busy." She said, refusing to look up and was concentrating on writing the hiragana character 'a' until he took the pen away from her. "Hey!"

"Glad I got your attention." With her head still down, he placed a hand under her chin, forcing her to look up at him. "What's with you, Sakata? Scared to look at me?"

"… I don't like seeing your face, that's all." It was true.

She hates him so much.

So much that looking at him made her sick, and she just wants to bash him head against the table over and over again. It might make her feel better, but she knew her anger towards him would never _ever_ fade, even if he begged for her forgiveness.

In her mind, Okita Sougo is a total asshole, and is beneath her.

"Heh. Seems like you're the only girl who doesn't like my face."

"Who wants to see it looking like it went through a disaster?" even though his nose was still okay, the bruise had not yet faded.

"Nothing like a few kisses from girls to make it feel bearable." He boasted while she mentally gagged at the thought of dozens of girls kissing him.

"Man-whore." She mumbled under her breath, knowing that he wouldn't catch it. Out loud, she asked, "Are you done? I'd like to get back to my writing book, and I only have fifty-five more minutes to do 'a' until 'ho'."

"And deprive me of my fun?" he gave out a harsh laugh. It was disgusting seeing the student council president drop his mask of politeness and suddenly become a jerkass behind the scenes. "That means I only have fifty-five minutes left to torment you."

She rolled her eyes. "If that's the case, then I'm going home."

"You're gonna get in trouble if you leave early." He reminded her. "You're at my mercy, Sakata—"

"Do whatever the hell you want, Okita, I don't give a fuck anymore." She slapped his hand away. "Hell, I should probably not go to school tomorrow so I don't have to see your disgusting face for the meantime." With that, she stood up, and was about to push her chair back to the desk when he suddenly grabbed her nape and slammed her face against the desk. "What the hell—"

"You're not leaving, Sakata." Came the harsh tone. "You're not gonna deprive me of my fifty-five minutes."

_This guy… is officially a jerkass in my dictionary._

"What the hell are you planning to do?" she asked calmly, readying her leg to kick him wherever she could land it when he pinned her by using his body weight against the desk. "Shit, let me go, you bastard—"

"I told you that you're not allowed to deprive me of my fifty-five minutes—"

"Go suck a dick!" she screamed as she struggled to free herself. "I hate you! I FUCKING HATE YOU! GO TO HELL AND DIE, ASSHOLE!"

"Hey, that's uncalled for—" he said, but it didn't work. In fact, it incensed Kagura further.

"Fuck you, Okita Sougo! I fucking hate you!" she repeated angrily, trying to elbow him away from her. "Leave me alone and stop wasting my time! Being in the same room as you sickens me, and I hate your guts!"

"… You hate me, huh…" Kagura nearly laughed at him sounding so surprised, but she was too pissed to do so.

"What, you think I _enjoy_ listening to you insult me?" she sounded very incredulous. "You're delusional if you think I like spending my time with you! I'd rather spend it well with my babies—"

"Babies…?"

"None of your business." Kintarou and Kaguya were none of his business, and it had been her mistake to blurt it out. "Get off me! I'm going home!"

"Do you really hate me, Sakata?" he asked.

Her response was instantaneous. "Of course I hate you." she huffed. "Get off of me, I'm going home and—" just as she was turning her head to yell at him some more, the unexpected happened.

Okita Sougo had grabbed her by the collar of the sailor uniform, slammed her against the chalk board, and raised her left hand above her head, pinning her wrist. Kagura had raised her leg to kick him, anything to get him off her, but he had used his body to pin her down. She tried to break free, but the damn ass was using his body weight to make sure she wouldn't move too much.

"Fuck you, Okita Sougo. Go to hell. Fucking die already, you useless piece of sh—" before she could even continue her insults at him, the jerk bent down (the damn guy was taller than her by more than four inches), and kissed her.

On her lips.

Cliché as it may sound, it was her first kiss, and as much as she hated to admit it, she believed in those 'sacred first kiss' rules that a lot of shoujo manga heroine subscribe to. So much for her romantic first kiss, as the guy she hated so much just stole it without breaking a sweat. The thought of her losing it to the person whom she couldn't stand had upset her to the point that she felt her strength leave her, and to her shock, she felt her knees give way, but not enough for her to fall down, as Okita had managed to catch her.

"Now, do you forgive me—" before he could continue his sentence, his blood red eyes widened all of a sudden.

Sakata Kagura, her mouth was hanging open, as staring at him in shock as tears began flowing freely from her eyes. The sight of her _crying_ would've made him grinned as he knew that his plan to shock her had worked. Sougo had been planning to kiss her as a joke right after she told him that she hates him. It was unheard of, a girl hating him, as he himself knew that his good qualities outweigh the bad, and surely, Sakata was no exception. He had it all planned out: he would kiss her, then ask her if she still hates him, and if she still said he hates him, he would kiss her until she gave in. It worked on all of the girls he had been with, and one kiss was enough for them to melt and accept his apology.

Sakata, though, was now crying silently as she stared into god-knows-what, and somehow, he felt bad all of a sudden. "Oi—"

_D-Don't show a-any signs of weakness, _she sternly reminded herself as she blinked back the tears that were threatening to roll down her eyes. The last thing she needed was Okita taunting her for her tears, and she was in no mood to deal with his childish antics. Clearing her throat, she tested her left arm, and was about to be able to break free until Okita had noticed her intention and pinned her down further.

"You're not going _anywhere_." He warned her.

Any girl who was pinned down by this jerk would've probably swooned at the sight of him pinning her down, so she did the best thing she could think of right now: turn her head to the side and ignore him until he got tired of her and let her go. Unfortunately for her, Okita was determined to force her to pay attention to him. "Sakata, you still have forty minutes to entertain me."

_Oh, so that's what he calls detention now. What a man-whore. Probably does this to all the girls in detention._

"Go entertain yourself. I have a lot of things to do." She said sharply, testing his hold on her once more. _'No good, he still has quite a grip.'_

What she'd died to get superhuman strength right now to beat the shit out of him and _not_ be a _normal girl_ whom he could easily pin down.

"Oi, look at me—" he grabbed the collar of her uniform to force her to face him, and the first thing that greeted him were a pair of azure eyes blazing with so much fury. "… What, you didn't like that kiss—"

"The last thing I want is a kiss from your disgusting lips." She hissed. "With all those girls you've kissed, I'd rather not be part of those brainless idiots who think you're all that when you're just an ass who plays the part of the perfect student council president."

"Why you—"

"And you think I'd change my mind after that? You're stupid enough to have that kind of mind set, and lemme tell you again that I fucking hate your guts. You understand?! I fucking hate—" her rant had been cut off when he proceeded to kiss her again. She had pressed her lips together in an attempt to deter him, but he was persistent.

"Open your mouth." He demanded.

"Fuck no—" goddamn it, it had been a trick when he goaded a response from her just so she would open her mouth and retaliate. Okita had pressed his lips once more, and with her mouth opened, he proceeded to force his tongue inside her.

The feeling of his tongue inside her mouth sickened her that she nearly gagged, and she had been tempted to do so just to stop him from doing all this disgusting things to her. As much as she wanted to bite his tongue off, she had suddenly lacked the strength to fight him back, and as much as Kagura hated to admit it, he was successful in whatever it was that he had been planning.

When he had paused to pull away from her, her retort was ready.

"Hope you had fun with that stunt of yours." She said, sarcasm dripping heavily with every word.

"… What, you're still not gonna forgive me—"

At this, she used her full body weight to slam him, and had been rather successful, as she had managed to knock him to the ground. "Leave me alone, Okita Sougo. I'm tired to dealing with you." She whispered before running to the door, sliding it open, and running back to the classroom where she had left her bag. She heard footsteps behind her, and she knew he was trying to follow her. Gasping to herself, she slid open the door to her classroom…

… and found her father, Sakata Gintoki, waiting for her inside the classroom.

"G-Gin-chan…!" she screamed, running towards him and latching herself towards him, tears finally flowing freely from her eyes. It was a relief that he was there, though it had shocked her to see him. "W-w-what are you doing here…?"

"Tsukki told me to fetch you. Now I know you're a big girl already, but the damn woman has been forcing me to get my ass off the couch." The perm-haired dad of hers sighed, looking very irritated. "I was peacefully reading my JUMP and letting Kintarou sleep on my chest when she told me to go and pick you up and buy baby supplies."

"T-t-that's nice of mommy…" she said in between hiccups, discreetly wiping her eyes on the dress shirt he was wearing. Gintoki had probably not yet changed after work, as he was still clad in his usual _salaryman_ outfit.

"Ready to go?" he asked, grabbing her bag from her desk. "The babies are waiting."

"Y-yeah." She decided that leaving her workbook in the detention room was fine, as she did it a couple of times before. No one really cared if she left her workbook there, as everyone in the whole school knew. "Let's go."

Just when they were about to exit the classroom, in came the student council president, his poker-faced expression on. "Sakata, where are you going?"

"Extend her hours tomorrow, will you?" Gintoki asked, looking very bored. "We're in a hurry."

"Let's go, Gin-chan." She said, gripping her hand around his arm. The older man, noticing that his daughter had never _ever_ acted like this before, took her left hand, and intertwined his fingers with her own. "Weren't we supposed to buy supplies for the twins?"

Gintoki nearly laughed at the sight of the young man before him who looked like he was going to kill him on the spot. Gintoki stood a whole lot of inches over him, but the killing intent in the younger man's eyes would probably be enough to knock him off his feet. "Oh, silly me, I forgot. Anyway, let's get going. Excuse us." He said, leading his daughter out of the classroom, her school bag on his left shoulder. When he was sure they were out of earshot, GIntoki whistled in relief, "That guy looked like he wanted to kill me."

"No doubt about it. You whisked me away from being his playtoy, dad." She huffed angrily. "He should leave me alone, that ass."

Gintoki shook his head, still at a loss as to how his daughter, at the age of sixteen, was still clueless about boys. It was pretty obvious that the guy earlier was jealous, but she just had to fuel his rage more by mentioning her twin siblings, and he probably misunderstood the whole thing. "… What's that guy's name anyway?"

"Okita Sougo." She replied automatically.

"I see." Gintoki smirked to himself, internalizing the information that his daughter had just given.

Tsukuyo was going to have a field day over this, he was sure of it.

* * *

Where the hell did he go wrong?

The plan was perfect. He had five days to push through with his plan, but each time he was about to start, her azure blue eyes would look up at him with contempt, and he would back down. Insults worked, but he knew deep inside that Sakata Kagura was hating him more and more with what he did. He really felt bad that she broke her arm because of him, and he was really planning to show her how, he blanched at the word, sorry he was.

… Why the hell didn't _shoujo manga_ stuff work in real life?

He would've had her if only it had work.

_Good work, Sougo. She wouldn't even look at you. And she probably informed her sugar daddy about it, and you'll get beaten to a pulp one day._

The thought of her _married_ to some guy years older than her surprised him, but when she mentioned _kids_, that did him in. if there was one thing that shoujo manga were right on, it was those marriages between school girls and older men, and while those girls in fiction hid the true status of her relationship, Sakata had blurted it out loud, and did not feel an ounce of shame over her declaration that she had _twins_ with the guy.

He felt like crap right now.

Sakata Kagura was out of his reach, she hates him, and…

… And he was a total ass for not treating her right.

* * *

I hope you all enjoyed that! Thanks for reading and I hope you guys will leave review! :3


	2. Chapter 2

More GinTsuki than OkiKagu for this chapter.

This chapter tackles on Sakata family derpness + Okita being clueless as usual.

I promise to make the next chapter more interesting.

_Hopefully._

Disclaimer: I do not own Gintama. It belongs to Sorachi Hideaki.

* * *

Of Detentions and Mixed Signals

* * *

_Chapter 2_

* * *

Kagura was still in a foul mood when she got home to the three-bedroom apartment a few minutes away from her high school. She has always loved this apartment; it had been the place where Gin-chan and her had been living in ever since she could remember. Tsukuyo had been living with them for quite some time until she had permanently become a member of the family when they found out that she was expecting twins. What made her love the apartment was that place was lovely, and each room had a balcony, so whenever she had one of those moments wherein she wanted to enjoy the night sky, she would sit by the balcony outside her room. Another thing was that the place she lived in had a park nearby, and she went there sometimes whenever she noticed that her parents needed "privacy".

She still couldn't get over the fact that they had managed to wake her up one night when she was twelve because of their 'nightly activities'.

And she was a heavy sleeper, mind you.

"Where's mom?" she asked after removing her shoes by the doorway.

"Sleeping, obviously." Gintoki said, carrying the huge shopping bags after sloppily removing his shoes by the _genkan_. "Thanks for the help, kiddo. You really saved me the trouble." He said, referring to her helping him pick out the correct diaper brands and the twins' milk.

"No worries." She shrugged. "I don't want mom pissed off at dad, then they start fighting, then they'll wake up the twins and then my peace and quiet just disappears."

"Oi, don't bully your siblings when they're not within hearing range… and they don't know what's going on." For added measure, Gintoki punched her lightly on the head, making her yelp.

"The hell was that for?!" she screeched, only to be punched in the head again.

"For being noisy. You'll wake them up."

Kagura rolled her eyes. "Fine then. I'll just be in my room. Call me when it's time to eat." With that, she headed off to her room, located in the corner of the apartment. The view from her balcony was the small street that overlooked the parking area where their family car was, and where her trusty bike was. During the times she needed to head off to school quickly, she used her bike, while most of the time, she was up and about early and walked to her school.

As soon as she opened the door to her room, Sadaharu, her Shiba Inu dog of two years, bolted from his small bed and ran to greet her. "Sadaharu!" she said, bending down to greet her white-furred dog, who proceeded to lick her face. "Missed me, huh? You didn't get bored?" when Sadaharu panted, she knew that he had probably enjoyed playing by himself while she was at school, as his toys were scattered all over the floor.

"Thanks a lot for cheering me up… I've had a really crappy day."

_Not to mention that some jerk stole my first kiss and wasn't even apologetic about it._

Her blood still boiled whenever she thought of the moment he overpowered her by taking advantage of her casted arm. She wanted to bash his head against the cast, but realized in hindsight that it probably wasn't the best idea to do, especially since the broken bone needs to heal properly this time around. She didn't want to further her suffering when the weeks that followed the casting had been very difficult for her. Asking Tsukki to put zip bags on the cast while she bathed was embarrassing, but she took it all in stride, saying that asking for help wasn't a shameful thing to do.

What she hated was her always being watched over by that jerk of a class president, who made sure she was having the worst hour of her life every single day.

_Ugh. I need to complete two hours' worth of detention tomorrow._ Classes ended at three in the afternoon, and she needed to complete the hours, so she had to leave by five. It was a bad way to end her week, but as long as she didn't have to cross paths with that person anymore, what was two hours compared to spending so much time with him?

_I'll just suck it up. The first arm bash to his face was worth it._

Kagura just hoped that he wouldn't do anything worse than what he did today.

* * *

"Hey Tsukki."

The mother of twins Kaguya and Kintarou gave out a yawn as her husband entered their bedroom. Beside their bed were two bassinets where the twins were sleeping, and Gintoki had made his footsteps lighter with each step he took as not to wake them up. Earlier, the blonde woman was taking a nap when Gintoki had walked in. It was annoying, really, how his presence always alerted her senses, and she hardly got any sleep both because of him and the twins.

"What, Gintoki?" she asked, trying her best not to sound irritated as she tossed her shoulder-length hair behind her.

"Guess what."

She sighed and tried hard not to roll her eyes. "What?"

"You eldest daughter will probably have her very own shoujo manga romance soon."

At this, her amethyst-colored irises widen both in surprise and concern. "… Oh? Kagura has…" she coughed for a bit. "Someone likes her?"

"Why do you sound so surprised?" amusement was evident in his tone.

"Not what you're thinking. She's a very cute and adorable girl. I'm just surprised it's taken this long for someone to notice her." Tsukuyo huffed. "Men and their blindness."

"I don't think the guy's blind though… more like frustrated that he couldn't, wouldn't make a move on her." Gintoki shrugged off his dress shirt. "He misunderstood a lot of things from what she said—"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, she mentioned buying supplies for the twins, and the guy was trying his best not to beat the crap out of me, even if he's only up to my shoulders." he shrugged. "He probably thought she and I have secret kids or something!"

Tsukuyo was trying hard not to laugh. "You can't blame her. She thinks the babies belong to her." it was amusing to hear their eldest calling the babies her own whenever she thought no one was around to hear it. "And the twins really like their big sister."

"Yeah, but she should clear that up before some government agency arrests me all because that guy misunderstood!" Gintoki shuddered just thinking about him being thrown into jail and getting convicted for a crime he wouldn't dare commit.

Tsukuyo laughed this time around. "Don't worry, I won't let you get thrown in jail." she told him. "Maybe I should introduce myself to that guy. What's his name anyway?" after Gintoki mentioned the guy's name, Tsukuyo smiled.

"… The twins' check-up is also the day Kagura's cast gets removed, right?" at the silver-haired father's nod, Tsukuyo nodded as well.

"I'd like to meet that Okita Sougo personally."

* * *

School on Friday had been particularly lazy.

It seemed to her that everyone was in a rush, even the teachers, to the point that after lunch, the teachers had declared that they were all going to have study period until three in the afternoon. While everyone decided to just go home, Kagura found herself in the detention room with Okita Sougo, who was sitting beside her, mulling over so much paperwork. She figured it was related to student council work, so she picked up her pen and began writing on the worksheet, this time, from the hiragana character 'a' until 'n'. It was a struggle, but she had managed to write all of the characters using her left hand after thirty minutes.

With nothing better to do, she took out her mobile phone and checked if she had new messages from her family.

An email from her mom read: "I'll be in the store until 9PM. Can you watch over the twins until we go home?"

Sakata Tsukuyo, formerly Natsuki Tsukuyo, owns a bakery.

Particularly a bakery that specializes in strawberry-based pastries.

Co-owned with Sugiwara Hinowa, the shop was situated in downtown Shibuya and had a lot of patrons, ranging from grandparents to toddlers. Kagura herself had been a fan of the store even before dad and her got together, and it had been a huge bonus when they got married.

… But then again, she knew she had had a hand in getting both of them together, a feat she always took credit for, resulting in Gintoki rolling his eyes in disbelief and Tsukuyo chuckling.

She emailed back, "Okay, mom. I'll be there as soon as I can." With that, she placed her phone back inside her skirt pocket, and was about to sleep on her desk when she noticed Okita Sougo standing in front of her. She nearly jumped in her seat. "The fuck—"

"You done?" he asked.

"Y-yeah… from 'a' to 'n'." she replied.

"You can leave." He said.

"H-huh…?"

"You can leave already. What, you wanna stay here?" he asked her.

The smug tone got to her. "Hell no. I can't stand you, so why should I stay here with you?!" She snapped back, grabbing her bag from the bag hook located on the side of the desk. Slinging it on her left shoulder, she stomped out of the room, sliding the door open and slamming it shut as loud as she could.

It was Friday, and she didn't want to take shit from him right now.

* * *

Sougo sighed as soon as she left the room, wondering what he did again to set her off.

She _was_ probably pissed with what happened yesterday, but seriously, he did all he could not to bother her today.

Why did she snap back at him?

_Seriously… girls._ Even after dating several of them, he still couldn't figure them out.

"Okita." The room door opened, and in came Imai Nobume, his upperclassman and the secretary of the student council. "Did Sakata just pass by here?"

"What of it?" he asked hotly.

Nobume shrugged. "She looked upset, and I was wonder if you had anything to do with it." She may have said it with a poker-faced expression, but it was obvious that she was taunting him. "You're the only one who can set her off—"

"Fuck off, Imai. Not in the mood to deal with you." He said, grabbing the pile of papers from his desk. "You're here for these, right? Go and take it."

Nobume shook her head. "You really should be nicer." She commented, taking the pile from him. "I'll bring these over to Shimura. Better hope we don't go over the budget."

"It's feasible. I'd want a good cultural festival. Last year was just bad." He said, referring to the cancelled event all because the student council had been very irresponsible and did not take care of all the work.

"Then good luck to us." Imai said before disappearing behind the door.

* * *

Business was good on Friday.

It had taken her nearly forty-five minutes to reach the shop, and as soon as she got there, Kagura immediately placed an apron over her uniform, tied up her hair, and placed a scarf over her head. It had been very busy, and she knew her mom and Hinowa needed all the help they could get. She did not have shop assistants, and her school didn't have any ban on students working part-time, but it wasn't as if she demanded money. She helped out because she could, and if it meant her mom having an easier time, she would do what she could.

Several hours later, at seven in the evening, nearly all the strawberry pastries in the shop had been sold out. Some patrons who had went in too late grumbled at the thought of not having their pastry today, but both Tsukuyo and Hinowa had been able to accommodate them, promising the goods by the time the store opens, which was at ten in the morning the next day. Around this time as well, Kagura was in the tiny office of the shop, watching over her siblings as they slept. The twins weren't too fussy today, though Kaguya cried several times because she was hungry. Kintarou, on the other hand, had been an angel, and was content until Tsukuyo got to the office. That was when he started crying.

"What's wrong now?" Tsukuyo cooed as she picked up the golden-haired baby, who was crying earnestly. Hinowa had been long gone, as she had to get home and prepare dinner for her son, Seita, and it was only the four Sakatas who were in the shop. "Shhh… you'll wake up Kaguya…"

"I think he's hungry, mom." Kagura said.

"Guess so. This is the only time he woke up, huh?" asked the blonde woman as she began to unbutton her blouse. Just when Tsukuyo had sat down and began nursing the younger twin, the bell rang, signalling a customer. "Ah, can you get that—"

"I'm on it, mom." Kagura replied as she grabbed the apron and the headscarf, tying the latter in record time despite her right arm in a cast. As soon as she stepped out of the office, she yelled, "Welcome! How may I—" she stopped midsentence as she realized who it had been who had just entered the shop.

What the hell was Okita Sougo doing here?

If he had looked surprised at her being in the store, he didn't show it. Instead, he stared at her, his blood red eyes being inexpressive as usual. "I placed an advance order… and it's under my name." he said.

Kagura grabbed the log book below the cash register to check, and sure enough, his family name was written there, and the words 'strawberry shortcake – large' was beside it. "Okay. Let me go get it." Beside the display of cakes and various desserts, there was a huge refrigerator on the corner where most of the treats that needed to be refrigerated at a certain temperature were stored. Hinowa had made it easier for her to find it by placing his name on the box. With a bit of a struggle, she had managed to grab the box and placed it on the counter.

"You need anything? Candles, utensils?" she asked as she wrapped a red ribbon around the box. Despite her injury, she could still make a mean ribbon, and was very good at it. When he shook his head, she shrugged and went back to tying the ribbon. Several seconds later, she took out a paper bag and placed the box inside. "It says that you still have a remaining balance of one thousand five hundred." She informed him. When he handed her two one-thousand yen notes, just as she was about to give him his chance, he shook his head.

"Consider it a tip." He said.

"Uhhh… for me?" she asked, wondering if she should place it on the tip box just beside the register.

"Do what you want, Sakata." He said as he grabbed the bag and stormed off, leaving her dumbfounded at his sudden act of kindness.

… Was he really being kind, or just pitying her?

_Ugh. Why did I have to see him...? I was already having the best night ever._ Not bothering anymore to remove her head scarf and apron, she pocketed the five hundred yen and headed back to the small office where Tsukuyo was still feeding her younger brother. "Back." She said. "Some person took the advance order."

"Oh, I see." Tsukuyo nodded. "Was it the strawberry shortcake?" at her daughter's nod, Tsukuyo smiled to herself. "Ah, good. Guess we can close early then. You can have the leftover cakes if you want."

"_All_?!" she found herself drooling at the thought of eating _all_ of the pastries, which happened to be her favorite. Tsukuyo nodded, and she nearly screamed. "Thanks, mom!" she jumped up and headed back to the store front, flipped the sign 'Closed', and began raiding the goodies behind the huge display case. The box on her casted arm was getting filled, and as she grabbed another box, the door opened.

"Brat, don't steal all of the pastries. Leave some for me." Sakata Gintoki walked in, clad in his salaryman outfit, yawning. "All the small strawberry shortcakes are mine."

"No! These are all mine!" she shot back.

"Then you can go home on the train while all of us ride in the car." Gintoki threatened, glaring at his eldest, who was sticking out her tongue at him.

"Moooom! Dad is being mean!" she whined, and as if on cue, Tsukuyo walked out of the office, Kaguya sleeping on her chest while Kintarou was strapped safely on her back. "Ah, Gintoki." She greeted, walking up to him to press a kiss on his cheek. Gintoki, on the other hand, kissed her back on the lips as Kagura made a gagging sound in the background. "Please get a room? Please?"

"No can do, brat. We can make out here if we want—"

"Ewww! Can we get home already?!" she hastily shoved all of the pastries in the box, placed it all in a paper bag, and headed for the door. Laughing, the Sakata couple followed suit, but not before making sure that they were really ready to close for the day, such as turning off the lights, and locking up the shop.

"Hurry up, I wanna go home and watch anime!"

"Then ride the train." Gintoki shot back.

"No! Too slow! And I missed it already, I have to wait for thirty minutes more." Kagura shot back as she opened the door to the van and got in. Tsukuyo placed the twins in their respective car seats and after securing the seats, she sat on the front and buckled up. Gintoki started the car, and began driving home. "Come on, dad, hurry up!"

"Quiet, or I'll eat all of the pastries while I drive!"

"NEVER!" she sat up and grabbed the paper bag filled with food. "Mom, don't let him eat all of it!"

"Yes, don't worry." She replied back, chuckling. "It's all yours."

"Alright…!" she cheered, leaving a frowning and defeated Gintoki.

Friday nights were what Kagura always looked forward to: her staying in the bake shop, either helping out both Hinowa and Tsukuyo or keeping an eye on her siblings (this was a fairly recent thing, however), then both Sakata women waiting for Gintoki to arrive from his workplace and pick them up. Gintoki's job was highly stressful, and it demanded a lot of time from his family, but Friday nights were always an exception. He would get off from work early and fetch them from Shibuya, then they all went home together.

That was how they spent their time together as a family on a Friday, and Kagura couldn't ask for more from her perfect family.

* * *

Okita Sougo had just gotten off the train station and was walking his way home when he began processing everything he had just seen.

Sakata Kagura in an apron and a head scarf was a sight to see, but knowing that she was working part-time in the store to support herself and the twins she had mentioned yesterday depressed him. Not to mention that the silver-haired jerk of a husband of hers was smirking at him as soon as he exited the shop. No doubt he was gloating; he had probably seen the exchange between him and the vermillion-haired classmate of his, and as much as he wanted to punch the face of the old man, he was in too much of a hurry to do such.

His sister was waiting for him, and was craving for a strawberry shortcake from 'Paradise', the bake shop he had purchased the cake from.

Maybe if he dropped by from time to time and bought pastries, he would see her…?

_'Sougo, stop being a creep. She's off-limits, remember?'_ it was difficult, really, for him to accept that Sakata Kagura was already off-limits, and the fact that it was hard for him to get over it said something. He dated girls, they were forgettable, but this particular classmate of his seemed really unique to the point that his emotions were getting the best of him.

When was the last time he did _everything_ just to appease someone?

_Never._

Sighing to himself, he walked faster, wanting to get himself home and just do some thinking.

He would give himself two days to get over her.

Maybe that would work.

**_MAYBE._**

* * *

Not so much action for this chapter, but I really hope to make it more interesting for the next chapter.

Thank you again for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

Light OkiKagu in this chapter.

Can't be helped, as Sougo really isn't the smartest guy around when it comes to dealing with love interests.

I hope the readers are doing well? I apologize for the lateness of this chapter. I went on vacation and was lucky enough to watch the 2nd Gintama movie in Shinjuku!

The movie is good, it exceeded my expectations, and despite some disappointments, it's a good movie. It's a must watch for all Gintama fans, be it a hardcore one and a casual fan.

Anyway, I'm rambling. Let's get it on with the third chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Gintama. It belongs to Sorachi Hideaki.

* * *

Of Detentions and Mixed Signals

* * *

_Chapter 3_

* * *

The weekend past by like a blur for Kagura, who had spent the whole weekend at home helping both her parents with the twins. Her siblings had been a handful, as they finally realized that they were supposed to do what babies do, which was cry and scream whenever they needed a feeding, a changing of diapers, or both at the same time. Poor mom had to do it by herself on Saturday morning when Gintoki was off to half-day work, so at an ungodly hour of seven in the morning, she was up, handing over the items that mom needed. Despite her handicap, she had been able to help out until dad got home. Gintoki had sent her back to her room, claiming that he and Tsukuyo would be able to handle the twins for the meantime. An exhausted Kagura fell asleep on her bed with Sadaharu by her feet in his own little bed, and had woken up around dinner time when Gintoki had knocked on the door.

Sunday was a bit worse for her, in all honesty, as the twins started crying around four in the morning. Kagura had bolted to their rooms to try and soothe them, but had been unable to do much help as she couldn't really feed both. Her attention was on Kaguya, whom she was feeding, while the younger one was out of her reach and kept crying. Tsukuyo appeared later, a _yukata _draped over her sleeping wear and had immediately scooped Kintarou out of the crib.

"Go to sleep, kid." Gintoki said a few minutes later, yawning. "We'll take care of this."

"But I—"

"Kagura, this is our responsibility, not yours. You need sleep, so listen to dad." It had been a while since Gintoki used his stern tone at her, and in an instant, she went back to bed.

Sunday afternoon was spent on grocery shopping as the twins' supplies were running out, and both her parents have been too busy taking care of them. She went to downtown Tokyo to get the supplies as there were no nearby grocery stores near the place she lived, and by dinnertime, she was back, and eating the delicious dinner her mom had made.

Monday morning, and she walked to school early morning as well, since she couldn't use her trusty bicycle to go there. Her left hand was still unsteady, and no matter how hard she practiced, she still ended up falling off her bike. How she wished she could get the damn cast off so she could get back to her normal routine. At least when she still had her bike, she could leave the house fifteen minutes before school started; this time around, with her right arm broken, she had to get going an hour before homeroom.

She really wanted to place all of the blame on Okita Sougo, but just thinking about his name was enough to ruin her day, so the vermillion-haired girl decided to try not to think about him too much and just grin and bear it.

… Though it still did not stop her from wanting to punch his face after she gets the cast off.

* * *

"Good morning, Kagura." Shimura Shinpachi, her classmate and one of the people whom she could call a close friend, greeted her that morning in the shoe locker area of the school. Amusingly, their shoe lockers were beside one another, especially since their last names followed one another [1]. "How was your weekend?"

"… I wanna sleep…" she mumbled as she took her white indoor shoes from the locker. "The twins have been crying nonstop since Saturday morning and I haven't been sleeping properly since Saturday afternoon."

Shinpachi frowned at this. "You should've called me." He said. "I'm the babysitter for those two, remember? Gin-san and Tsukuyo-san know I'm always available."

"Yeah, but dad said he didn't want to bother you because _anego_ had gotten sick." She said, referring to his older sister who worked as an office lady in a huge, traditional company. "You had to take care of her, so dad said we can't bother you. Besides, in the end, it worked out well… though I kinda wanna…" she left out a loud yawn. "… sleep."

"You can always sneak out to the clinic." Shinpachi suggested.

"Great idea. I'll do that later after homeroom." She grinned at Shinpachi. "Thanks."

"Also… you sure are not yourself today. You haven't tied up your hair." The eyeglasses-wearing teenager chuckled. "Your hair had grown so long, and I didn't notice."

"Ah, true. Ugh, I need someone's help later to fix this." While Kagura usually sported a hairstyle wherein her medium-length hair, which reached the middle of her back, was pulled up in a messy bun, this time around, it was let loose. "I thought I was going to be late, so I didn't ask mom to help me out."

"No wonder." Shinpachi nodded. "Anyway, I'll see you later. Student council meeting, and I don't want to be late. Okita-san is really strict." He grinned when he saw Kagura frown upon the mentioning of the president's name. "He's not that bad."

"Says the guy who didn't get pushed off the stairs by his stupid fangirls." She muttered under her breath and Shinpachi sweatdropped, knowing that no amount of convincing would change her opinion about the sandy-haired student council president.

"Okay, okay. I won't say anything anymore. I'll see you later, okay?" with a quick pat on the head, Shinpachi headed off to the student council room in the third floor of the school building. Sighing to herself, Kagura removed her brown outdoor shoes, grabbed her indoor shoes, and was about to wear the white-colored shoes when she started hearing excited chatter around her.

_Ugh, it's him again._ It was too bad that his shoe locker was located right in front of hers, so that meant they were back to back whenever they retrieved their shoes. Rolling her eyes, she hastily wore the indoor shoes using her left hand to make it a snug fit for her feet, and right after that, she bent down to get her outdoor shoes, placed it inside the shoe locker. Just when she was about to leave, someone had pulled her hair, and it happened to be the person she wanted to see the least.

"Sakata, seriously, you only thought of letting down your hair this time around?" came his amused tone.

"And what's it to you?" she shot back, refusing to look his way.

"Nothing, really. You look like an old hag whenever you tie your hair in a bun." He chuckled.

"Excuse me for looking like an old hag. Don't worry, I'll be sure to put it up in a bun later to piss you further." For added measure, she kicked his shin as hard as she could, and as soon as he felt down to his knees while howling in pain, she ran off to her classroom.

_Serves you right, _she thought angrily.

* * *

_What the hell did I do?!_

Sakata had been rather moody lately, especially when it came to him, but the last thing he expected was her kicking him in the shin when he was _subtly_ commenting to her that she looked a lot better with her hair unbound. What was it with women and their confusing signals? He had actually _complemented_ her, so why was she so pissed? It wasn't as if he said something out of line, but he found it annoying that she had failed to pick up his "witty comment", and had resorted to kicking him. It was a good thing she only did a kick, or else, he would probably find himself in the infirmary with a black eye, or a broken nose, or both at the same time.

Still, that confirmed his suspicions. Upon touching her hair, he felt his heart race, and catching a waft of her hair nearly did him in. A weekend, it seems, had not been enough for him to completely get over her. It was unfair, as he did all he could to get her out of his mind, yet she came running back just when he caught a lock of hair.

He hates it when Sakata Kagura ruins everything for him.

He wants to forget about her, he does what he could to do so, yet…

Her mere presence was enough to undo his promise to himself to stay away from her.

How could a girl like her hold some sort of power over him? He, one of the more popular males in school, the student council president to boot, and the academic achiever, was weak over some girl who hated his guts, didn't acknowledge his presence, and loathed him over the small things, ranging from being near her to him asking for her help. She couldn't be bothered with him, she told him one morning, as "it will give your stupid fangirls ideas". He refuted her claim, saying that it was stupid of her to say that he had fangirls.

That afternoon, he found her by the staircase, gritting in pain as she held her right arm, her lips quivering. Truth be told, he had witnessed the whole thing: a group of girls were screaming obscenities at her, telling her to stay away from him, and in her anger, she had tried to kick each and every one of them until a female from their year level had pushed her down the stairs. He waited until the girls left before he rushed to her side, all the while maintaining an air of calm detachment. Sakata had glared at him when he reached her side, but said nothing when he told her that he would take her to the school clinic.

He was shocked when the nurse had told him that she needed to go to the hospital, and that meant he was going to accompany her, as she was not able to contact her guardian (in the form of that silver-haired idiot). He had a lot of work to do for the student council, but he couldn't just leave her (the opportunity was there, and he was going to grab it), and with that, he passed his work to poor Shimura Shinpachi. Thankfully, the guy was sympathetic to his… problem, and wished him good luck.

_"… Why are you going with me…" she asked him when they were led to the school ambulance._

_"Obviously, you're a klutz, and if you break another part of your body, it'll be on my head. I don't want to deal with guardians telling me off." It wasn't the best reply, but at least she wouldn't know how concerned he was over her._

_He'd rather die than admit it._

_"You can leave, you know. I don't need you around." Ouch._

_"Sorry, but I've let Shimura take all of the responsibilities for today. It's not gonna be good if I left him with so much paperwork, and just when he gets concentrated on it, I return and tell him that I'll just take over."_

_The look on her face was priceless, and she looked like she wanted to murder him right then and there. "You sadistic jerk! How dare you make Shinpachi do all of your work! You're so irresponsible."_

_"Idiot. He needs to check the budgeting I've been doing since last week." He shrugged carelessly. "But then again, you probably wouldn't understand any of this, Sakata, since you're so dumb and unable to comprehend that Shimura is the Treasurer."_

_He got a kick on his shin, and he rolled his eyes at her. "You've resorted to hitting me? How mature."_

_"And your name-calling isn't?!"_

_She had a point, but it was just too fun picking on her. "Shush, Sakata. They might have to sedate you because you might worsen that broken bone of yours." He said, dodging another kick. "Be careful—"_

_The ambulance had come to a sudden stop, and Kagura had jerked forward, landing straight to Sougo's lap. The contact had nearly made him jump out of his skin, but he remained calm under the mask he wore… even if his heart was beating like crazy. "Sakata… better sit down properly. You don't want your injury to get worse."_

_She gave him a look of disbelief, as if she did not understand why he was showing concern for her. "… Why are you suddenly so nice?"_

_He suppressed the heat that started creeping up his cheeks. "Nothing. It'll be a hassle if you can't go to school. I won't be able to bully you that much."_

_As expected, she rolled her eyes and pulled away from him in disgust, much to his disappointment. "As expected from a jerk like you. Stay away from me."_

As much as he wanted to accompany her on the day she would get her cast removed (as it was demanded upon him by the doctor), Sakata had refused, telling him that he was 'not needed', and that she could handle everything by herself. He remembers her telling him that he is a curse to her, and that his existence is a bane to her own.

He wondered what the hell he did in his past life to make her hate him so much.

It sucks though, that the girl he had set his eyes on was not fond of him. _At all_.

* * *

"Settle down, everyone." Sakamoto Tatsuma, their homeroom teacher, scratched his head. It was weird, really, for an educator like him to sport sunglasses in school and have very unkempt and shaggy hair, but as long as the high school principal in the form of Terada Ayano [2] did not receive any complains about him, he would still be a teacher of their school.

As each and every one of them in class sat down, Kagura struggled not to fall asleep on her desk as Sakamoto-sensei had announced their schedule for the week. Her head was throwing itself forward, in an attempt to sleep, but she managed to stop herself from doing such.

_'Come on, Kagura, after this, you can sneak out.'_

"Ah, yes, I know it's gonna be summer vacation starting next week, but our dearest school principal had to accommodate the request of an old friend." He turned to the door and said, "Come on in!"

The door slid open, and in came a young girl with long black hair…

… And accompanied by two muscular men in black suits.

Everyone sweatdropped at the sight of the muscular men, and the room suddenly became extra stuffy, for some reason. Even Kagura, who was on the verge of falling asleep, had been awake at that instant to gape at the two muscular men.

"This is your new classmate, Tokugawa Soyo."

_Figures,_ was the collective comment of the class.

A member of the Tokugawa clan, studying in a public school in the outskirts of Tokyo, was shocking and unheard of, at least, to them. They expected her to be the typical _ojou-sama_, studying in one of the most elite schools in Tokyo, where she could mingle with her fellow elites, but for her to be studying in their high school, and had even brought along her bodyguards…

… Either she would get along with them, or be an elitist snob.

"Hello. Please call me Soyo." She bowed at them. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Now that's done," Sakamoto Tatsuma gestured at the bodyguards. "well, the bodyguards aren't really allowed inside classrooms… but they _are_ allowed to patrol the school grounds. If anything happens, inform them, okay?" at this, the two bodyguards took a bow, and exited the room.

"Okita, I trust you to help her out and keep an eye on Soyo during class."

"Errr, sir, wouldn't it be better if you assign a girl?" not that he was averse to helping her, but if their teacher was asking him to keep an eye on her, how could he do it properly if he was a member of the opposite sex, and a biological male at that?

… He was _not_ going inside the female toilet just to keep an eye on her.

"Great idea. You and Sakata can take turns watching over her!"

The look on Sakata's face when their adviser mentioned her nearly made him laugh, but when she turned to her right side to glare at him, he switched back to his poker-faced expression.

It was clear: the look on her face said it all.

_I'm gonna kill you for getting me into this mess, you jerk._

* * *

At lunch, Kagura took out her lunchbox, all the while yawning.

She had failed to sneak out to the clinic to catch some sleep, and she wondered if she could stay awake for the whole day. To be honest, Kagura found it difficult to pay attention in class today, and even if Shinpachi had given her chocolates to keep her awake, her eyelids refused to budge.

"May I… join you?"

She looked up to see her new classmate grinning at her. "Oh, ummm… sure. Grab a desk and a chair."

Behind Soyo, Okita grabbed a nearby desk, which belonged to one of their classmates, and placed it in front of Kagura's desk. "Here you go. Sakata, take care of her for the meantime."

"Where're you going?!" she demanded to know.

For once, she wanted him to be with her in the mess he pulled her in. Seriously, this was all his fault, dragging her along with his responsibility that she wanted no part of. She couldn't get along with her classmates, what more a complete stranger?

"Student Council stuff." At her doubtful glance, he sighed. "Look, Shimura is gone, is already in the meeting room, and I need to get there as soon as possible. Imai is gonna get my head if I'm late."

'Imai', of course, meant their female upperclassman who was known as a 'cool beauty' in the whole school. "Don't give Imai-sempai a hard time then." She said.

Okita knew she was fond of the older girl, but sometimes, Imai was just annoying.

Especially when she made him realize how much of an idiot he can be when he is facing Sakata Kagura.

"Yeah, whatever." As soon as he left the classroom, Kagura sighed to herself.

Talking to Okita Sougo was stressful, tiring, and very nerve-wrecking.

"… Are you and that guy…" Soyo began, but shook her head.

"Are me and that guy what?" she found herself asking.

"No, it's nothing, Kagura-chan. Don't mind me." Soyo commented, opening her lunch box to reveal a rather extravagant meal that ranged from shrimp to lobster, compared to the simple, yet filling lunch that her mom had made.

Soyo's lunch had distracted her, but her mentioning her first name had surprised her. "Wait, how did you know—"

"We met each other yesterday, remember? You were carrying a lot of grocery bags when we bumped into one another in Shinjuku."

And with that, Kagura remembered.

About the girl she rescued in Shinjuku on the way home.

About the girl whom she rescued because some disgusting scumbags were harassing her.

About the girl who was kind enough to escort her to Shibuya from Shinjuku when she noticed that her arm was broken.

About the girl who introduced herself as 'Soyo', asked for her name, and the second one among her age to call her 'Kagura-chan', aside from Shinpachi.

"… Oh. I-I'm sorry for forgetting… I was really out of it." Kagura scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.

Soyo shook her head. "No, it's fine. I understand. You did tell me your siblings were… being very difficult."

"Yeah, well… babies." Kagura shrugged as she picked up her chopsticks with her left hand and tried her best to eat her lunch as carefully as she could. The fried omelette missed her mouth by a few inches and tumbled down to her rice. "Damn it."

"I hope you can get that cast out soon…" Soyo said. "It looks really difficult to manage."

"I can't wait for this to be removed. I swear, I'll be the happiest person alive when this is remove." She sighed, quickly shoving the omelette to her mouth. A bit of chewing, then swallowing, and she was back to chattering with her new friend. "It hurts, and when it's itchy, I can't scratch it. It's driving me crazy, I tell you."

"How many more weeks?"

"Three more."

"… Will your cast be a problem if, let's say, I invite you to a small birthday party at my place?" at Kagura's questioning look, Soyo quickly added, "Oh, don't worry. It's not gonna turn into a crazy stuffy party. My family, despite being a Tokugawa, prefers to have parties like everyone else so… if it's okay with you or your parents, you wanna come over next week?"

Kagura smiled. "Sounds good. I'll ask mom and dad if they're okay with it."

"Oh, ummm… if you don't feel comfortable, you can bring a friend over—"

"Can I bring Shinpachi along?" she blurted out.

"Shinpachi…?"

"I'll introduce you to him later." Kagura nodded. "Come on, let's eat, and I'm running out of time scooping all of these!"

Laughter was heard throughout their classroom that lunch hour, something that their classmates were not used to, as Sakata Kagura was known to be quiet and a recluse.

Maybe, just maybe, her new friend would help her out and make her get along with her classmates…

* * *

"Okay, listen up. No one leaves the classroom until we're done."

Kagura, who had endured hours of trying hard not to fall asleep, groaned as Okita Sougo made his way to their homeroom teacher's desk, picked up a piece of chalk, and began writing on the board.

Of all the days he was going to be an ass all throughout the day, why did it have to be on a Monday and on the day she wanted to go home early and sleep?!

"We've finalized all of the details for the Cultural Festival on November 3." At this, she perked up upon the realization that the festival fell on her birthday, which meant she had to go to school.

Another groan, and this time around, everyone turned to look at her.

"Something the matter, Sakata?" Okita drawled.

"… Nothing."

Of all the days, why the hell did he have to announce that their Cultural Festival will be on her birthday?!

Her mood rose from 'meh' to 'I-am-so-going-to-fucking-kill-you-right-now', all thanks to him.

"As I was saying, our class has to contribute to this event. Any suggested activities?"

At once, everyone began to shout.

"Cosplay Café!"

"Maid and Butler Café!"

"Haunted House!"

Kagura didn't give a fuck as to what they would do, as long as she didn't have to dress up like an idiot. She would rather work behind the scenes, as that would mean less work, and… she could probably sneak out to meet her parents when they find out that the Cultural Festival would be on the day of their daughter's birthday.

"… Why is everyone voting for a café?" Okita wanted to know.

" 'Cause that's the easiest, and we just need to have costumes made!" one of their female classmates said excitedly.

"Well, that's true." At this, Okita fixed his stare at her. "Sakata, you're in charge of the menu."

"WHAT!? WHY!?" she yelled at him angrily.

"What, you wanna cosplay instead?" at his suggestion, she blanched, knowing that her, a very tomboyish girl, was not cut out for cutesy stuff such as 'cosplay'. "Didn't think so."

"… Fine. I'll help out with the menu." _And maybe I can ask mom to help out with the desserts, since she's really good with those. Better that I'm stuck with planning the menu than serving some person I don't feel comfortable with._

"And with that settled… it's a cosplay café then. With the exception of Sakata, everyone has to help out with the preparations." Sougo announced. "We have three months, but we'll have to make it work. Clear?"

The affirmative yells told him that his classmates understood him loud and clear, and the way Sakata was secretly smiling to herself made him understand that he did the right thing. He patted himself on the back, congratulating him for a job well done.

He finally had an excuse to work alongside her.

_Three months with her._

He was going to make the most out of it.

* * *

Notes:

[1] since their last names followed one another - Sakata is Kagura's last name for this fic, while Shinpachi stays a Shimura. As to how their last names follow one another, Japan arranges things by 'a', 'i','u', then 'o'. After that, it goes to the k line (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko), then s line, and so on and so forth. You can keep this in mind when you are looking for manga when you go to Japan.

[2] Terada Ayano - Otose's real name.

Next chapter: more okikagu (hopefully, it won't be too shoujo-y, 'cause I just lol at those stuff), gintsuki, and plain craziness.

Thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Finally, an update.

I'd also like to announce something.

The whole month of September is OkiKagu Month. OkiKagu fans on Tumblr are celebrating it with fan works, so for you OkiKagu fanfiction writers, I hope you can join us!

The URL of the tumblr blog is "okikagumonth".[tumblr].com (remove the quotes) You can check the prompts for each day of September, as well as a special month-long prompt for the pairing.

Anyway, without further ado, here's Chapter 4. Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Gintama. It belongs to Sorachi Hideaki.

* * *

**Of Detentions and Mixed Signals**

* * *

_Chapter 4_

* * *

"Shinpachi! Shinpachi!" a distressed-sounding Sakata Kagura made her way to the crowded hallway as some students who were hanging outside their classrooms blocked her way towards the Treasurer of the Student Council. She muttered 'excuse mes' as she tried to squeeze her way through to run after him, who was now well ahead of her and probably out of hearing range to hear her screams. While she kept screaming for Shimura to look her way, he kept on walking, so the best thing that she could do was run towards him and try to keep up.

Unfortunately, the vermillion-haired girl was running too fast and had been careless in her foot work that she found herself tripping on her own feet. As she screamed in horror at the thought of her landing on her right arm that was still in a cast, someone had managed to grab her by the waist and prevented her from falling.

"Sakata, no running in the corridors."

_That voice_…

She looked back to see Okita Sougo giving her a concerned look, his arms still around her waist, supporting her. "Be careful. You don't want that arm broken again, do you?"

The retort, despite sounding harmless, had gotten her angry. "Stop it with your fake concern, Okita." she growled.

It was unbelievable that someone like him was _concerned_ for her. Whatever the hell he was planning, she was not buying it.

He rolled his eyes in exasperation, but instead of pushing her down to the ground, he pushed her away from him instead, in the direction of Shimura Shinpachi, who had finally taken notice of her and had walked back to where she was. Kagura then slammed against the eyeglass-wearing male student, who yelped in surprise at the impact. "Fine. I should've let you get your arm broken again." he said angrily, rubbing the back of his head in frustration, sandy blonde hair sticking up a bit from the gesture. "It would've been more fun to torment you with more of your body parts broken and you're hopping around the campus like an idiot—" before he could finish his sentence, he narrowly avoided a kick that was thrown his way.

"Kagura-chan, calm down. You might get into an accident again!" Shinpachi said, always the voice of reason.

"Then tell that jerk to leave me alone!" she yelled back.

Shinpachi noticed Okita twitch in anger at her comment and decided to change the subject. "Errr, anyway… why were you calling me again?"

Thankfully for him, Kagura was easily distracted and had forgotten her grudge against the Student Council President. "Oh yeah!" she said, looking at him with glee evident in her eyes. "Can you come over to my house tonight?"

"Huh? Is Tsukuyo-san okay? Is she sick?"

As Kagura and Shinpachi were both engrossed in their own conversation, both have failed to see the shock and anger that was emitting from the student council president, who was now glaring at both of them with his crimson-colored orbs.

_'WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON BETWEEN YOU TWO?!'_

He knew he had no right to be jealous, nor was it even logical for him to feel anger towards one of her childhood friends, but still…

Shimura calling her so casually by her given name irritated him. It was silly of him to hope, given the current situation, but it would be really nice if he would be allowed to call her by her given name.

_Dream on, Sougo, _came the sarcastic voice in his head.

As he stood there, waiting for the Treasurer of the Student Council to finish his talk as they had to go for a short meeting for lunch break was over, little did he know that the two were having a rather heated discussion, though it was one-sided.

Kagura was beyond pissed.

"So… why are you suddenly asking me if I'm available tonight?" he asked again, just to be sure he heard right. This was a new sight, Kagura pissed at her family. More than anything, she loves them with all her heart, but this time around, Shinpachi wasn't so sure if this was Kagura talking to him…

… Especially since right now, she is talking so badly of a certain family member.

"That idiot Sakata Gintoki ruined 'Mommy and Me Night'!" she repeated angrily, hitting Shinpachi in the arm out of frustration. As the eyeglasses-wearer yelped in pain from her hit, she continued on with her rant. "That asshole planned their dinner night tonight, that jerk…! He knows about it, yet there he went, booking their dinner date in a damn restaurant in some fancy hotel in Shibuya!" she puffed her cheeks in frustration and yelled out loud, causing everyone to look at her, wondering if she had lost it.

"Ah, the sacred 'Mommy and Me Night'." Despite not being part of the Sakata household, the close ties Gintoki had with the Shimura family was enough for him and his older sister to know the quirks of the Sakata family. When Tsukuyo had joined the Sakata household, Kagura had made it a point to bond with the woman whom she had been calling 'mom' for the rest of her life, though occasionally, she still used 'Tsukki' (something that she had copied from Gintoki when she had been younger), and the blonde lady took no offense at all. 'Mommy and Me Night', as Kagura had dubbed it, was held every Thursday night without fail ever since Kagura had been nine years old. Now sixteen, it would be the first time in seven years since it got interrupted, and by her father, no less.

"THAT BASTARD. I'D KICK HIM IN THE NUTS IF I COULD!" she screeched, kicking the nearby door.

"C-calm down, Kagura-chan, I'm sure Gin-san didn't mean it—"

"WHATEVER!" she screamed angrily, everyone present in the hallway giving her yet another weird look. "Be at my place by 6 in the evening, or you're dead, four-eyes!" huffing, she turned around and walked towards the hallway that Shinpachi knew did not lead to their classroom.

"Where are you going? Lunch break is nearly over!" he reminded her.

"Cafeteria! Need more food!"

As Shinpachi watched her walk off, he cautiously approached Okita Sougo, who was also watching her retreating back. "Okita-san—"

"What?" the student council president snapped, making Shimura gulp in fear.

"Y-you probably heard but—"

"Not really." It was the truth; Sougo tuned out whatever it was that they talked about, though it was amusing to see her puff her cheeks.

… Dare he say that he found it cute?

"Oh. Well, anyway… I need to ask you for a favor…"

* * *

Right after school was done, Kagura had escorted Tokugawa Soyo alone (Okita had been too busy with student council work, and couldn't find time to help out the new student) to her bodyguards who were waiting for her by the school gate. The pretty raven-haired girl had offered Kagura a lift back home, which she had declined, knowing that she shouldn't take advantage of the kindness of her new friend. Besides, her home wasn't too far from the school, and didn't mind the walk at all. Thirty minutes after her walk, she got to her house, and used her keys to open the apartment door. "I'm home!" she yelled.

"Welcome home." Was the automatic response of Tsukuyo, and immediately, Kagura headed off to the kitchen. Without warning, she threw her arms around the older woman, who was already dressed in casual wear that consisted of a floral light blue sleeveless summer dress that reached mid-thigh.

"Mommy, that idiot Gintoki is taking you away from me!" she whined.

"Who're you calling 'idiot', you damn brat!" Kagura yelped as her father's fist hit her head, and as soon as she turned around to glare at him, Gintoki glared back. "And what the hell is up with that look on your face?"

"You ruined 'Mommy and Me Night', you big jerk!" moving away from Tsukuyo, Kagura raised her non-injured arm and repeatedly hit the older man, making him yell in pain. "How could you—"

"How the hell was I to know that the restaurant I booked for months in advance would reserve the dinner date on a Thursday?!" he defended. "And mind you, it was your mother who was looking forward to this!"

Suddenly, the teenager stopped, though she was still glaring at the male Sakata. "… Then you'd better give her a worthwhile dinner date. More worthwhile than 'Mommy and Me Night'."

"Go to sleep before ten so it'll be worthwhile for her—" a kick on the shin, and he went hopping around the kitchen in pain while Tsukuyo tried to control the blush that threatened to creep up her cheeks. Despite the fact that it was yet too soon for such… _acts_, the eldest daughter of the Sakata family knew well what was going on between her parents.

… And they weren't exactly _very discreet_ about it too.

"Anyway, will Shinpachi be arriving soon?" Tsukuyo asked, changing the subject in the process.

"If you have to leave now, go on. The twins are still sleeping anyway… I can handle them." Kagura said. "Better get going or you might end up ruining another 'Mommy and Me Night' if this doesn't push through!"

"Whatever you say, kid." Gintoki replied, fixing his white dress shirt collar. He walked towards the hallway leading to the _genkan _and stopped before the end of the hallway to check in the mirror. After a final look, he began putting on his leather shoes. Seconds later, Tsukuyo followed suit, a handbag hanging on her wrist, and sat on the elevated platform to put on her wedges. Before they left, Kagura kissed both of them goodbye, bidding them a, "See you later!" before heading off to her room to change into a more comfortable clothing. After several minutes, she exited her room, Sadaharu in tow, and settled comfortably in the couch, wearing a loose shirt and sweatpants.

Six-thirty in the evening, and Kagura, with Sadaharu by her feet, was slowly feeling nervous; it bothered her that Shinpachi was still nowhere to be found, and she had this bad feeling that the twins would be waking up anytime. It was weird for her best friend to be late; he was always punctual, and no matter how many times he was delayed, he would contact her if something came up on his end.

Kagura picked up her mobile phone, and when she found no message, she knew something was really wrong. Just before she could dial Shinpachi's number from her contact list, the doorbell rang. Immediately, Sadaharu bounded for the door, and Kagura followed suit. "Sadaharu, no. Stay. You can't bite Shinpachi's leg okay? STAY." The dog whined for a bit, but ultimately went back to the living room. Not bothering to look through the door peephole, she opened the door and pushed it forward. "Oi Shinpachi, where the hell were you—"

Unfortunately for her, it wasn't Shimura Shinpachi who stood in front of her, but rather, Okita Sougo, dressed in a casual light blue shirt, a pair of jeans, and sneakers. The look on his face, to her surprise, was that of a guy who looked very bored. "I'm not Shimura."

"Y-you…!" immediately, she got into her fighting pose, arm cast and all. "What are you doing here?!"

"Shimura got caught up with student council work, so he asked me to go in his stead." He informed her.

"You forced that on him, didn't you, you sadistic ass?!" she tried to kick him, but he dodged her attack. "DIDN'T YOU!"

"Shh. You're disturbing the neighbors." Sougo said. "But anyway, Shimura says he's sorry for not telling you earlier that he had extra work to do." At this, he walked towards the doorway of the apartment. "I'll try and help out. Excuse me, coming through." Ignoring her, he began to remove his sneakers.

"Oi, you can't be here!" she yelled at him, kicking him in the shin as hard as she could.

"And what? You think you can take care of babies in your current condition?"

"I would've been able to if it wasn't for _you_!"

There, she said it.

It was one of the things that had always made her resent him so much.

Somehow, Sougo knew she would bring it up and blame him for it. He knew he was partially responsible for her current condition, and he was going to do whatever he could, albeit indirectly, to help her out. Sighing to himself, he knew this was not the right time to be arguing with her about this. Her provoking him about this issue was still uncomfortable for him, but it was something he just couldn't do away with.

_If only _he had done something that day to help her out on that day…

Sighing to himself, he pinched the bridge of his nose and turned to look at her seriously. "… Just show me where the babies are. That is what I came here for anyway."

"Since when were you such an expert in handling babies?" she couldn't help but voice out her concern. Kaguya and Kintarou mean the world to her; how could she even trust the person whom she had always hated for the past few years to take care of them?

To her shock, he suddenly… blushed?!

"… I just know." He coughed. "Anyway, let's—"

Sougo had been unable to finish his sentence as a flash of white suddenly stopped by the end of the hallway. Eager dog eyes were on him, and before Kagura could yell at him to stay away as Sadaharu was the type to hate strangers, he suddenly found himself…

… Getting jumped on by the dog.

And getting licked on the arm over and over again.

What surprised him was that the dog's tail was wagging like crazy, and the fact that Sakata's face was so priceless right now: her mouth open, she kept looking back and forth between him and her beloved pet, her azure-colored eyes filled with shock. "What's wrong?"

"Sa-Sadaharu usually bites the person coming through the door who isn't family… hell, he still bites Shinpachi from time to time, but… but you… this is your first time here, yet he's so… excited." Kagura explained, still at a loss at the earlier sight she had witnessed.

"Must be my luck then." He muttered, shrugging. "Anyway, can you just show me what I should do? The sooner I do this, the earlier I can leave."

* * *

Thirty minutes into the babysitting job, Sougo felt the fatigue hit him.

Lately, he hadn't been sleeping much, all thanks to schoolwork; plus, real life stress kept him awake at night. The sandy-haired young man was grateful that the twins were quite behaved (so unlike Sakata, he noted), and even if he had picked up the silver-haired one from her crib, she remained asleep. As soon as he picked her up, however, Sakata had demanded that he place her instead on her non-injured arm, and he obliged immediately. Kagura sat down on the opposite side of the couch and began cradling the baby girl while Okita sat at the far end, sighed to himself and closed his eyes.

_This babysitting job should better be worth it_, he thought.

As much as he was thankful for Shimura giving him the opportunity to be with Sakata, fact remained that there was something that Okita Sougo will never, ever be able to stand.

And that was—

"Oi, help out!" immediately, he opened his eyes, and before he could mouth a protest, a silver-haired baby was forced into his arms, along with a small baby bottle of milk. He wanted to drop the kid, in all honesty, but could not, _would not_ do such.

This child, after all, was her daughter...

"The bottle!" came the commanding tone.

"Huh?" he asked, snapping out of his thoughts.

"Kaguya's crying! The bottle, you idiot!" Sakata Kagura said as she slowly turned pale. It was evident that she was not used to this type of thing _at all_. Did that mean that old man did all of the work because of her current condition…?

"Right." using his right hand, he aimed the teat at the baby girl's mouth. Immediately, Kaguya calmed down and began sucking eagerly. "Heh. Finally settled down." He remarked.

Kagura glared at him angrily. "You took too long… you're such a sadist."

"That's not a nice thing to say to your babysitter." he said, standing up, careful that his hold on the baby was steady. "I can get the hell out right now and leave you to do everything by yourself—"

"… Fine. I'm sorry." she apologized, though her eyes reflected anger.

"That's better." he smirked, sitting down once more. Holding the bottle, he glanced at Kaguya, who was still eagerly drinking her milk. "She sure is hungry."

"She got that from me, obviously." said the vermillion-haired girl proudly. "She wouldn't be my sister if she didn't get that trait from me!"

_… Wait. Sister?!_

Sougo recovered immediately. "Errr… sis… ter?" he asked, wanting to know if what he heard was correct, or if the lack of sleep was making him delusional.

"Obviously." She shot back sarcastically, making it more difficult for him to know if her reply was serious or not.

"So is this baby your sister or not?!" he couldn't help but yell.

"Sister, of course!" she shot back. "Who the hell do you think I am?! Do I look like I gave birth to her?!"

_With the five lunch boxes you eat at school, yes._ Aside from the usual lunch box she brought from home, Sakata would skip to the cafeteria to get four more boxed lunch sets, to the horror and amusement of the lunch ladies. Though that happened before she broke her arm, it was still enough reason for people to start rumors that she was pregnant… and a lot of people, including him, were all leaning towards 'yes'. No one could confirm, as Sakata wasn't the type to be friends with everyone, and all the pregnancy rumors remained rumors.

… Until Okita began forming conclusions by himself, leading him to start becoming depressed at times at the thought of her _married_ and with _children_ and—

"Hey." he looked up at her. "Why are you such an expert on this anyway?"

At this, he stilled. Should he tell her about this part of his life that no one really knew of…?

Will Sakata use it against him…?

Or will she actually be indifferent and not care…?

_Might as well try._ Out loud, he said, "… I took care of my nephew as a baby. Before he turned one, I was the one who did all of these things. He's currently two years old now, and my sister still asks me from time to time to take care of him whenever she gets too busy."

Kagura nodded. "Oh, that… I didn't know. So you have an older sister… never knew you had one."

"She graduated from our school too, and all our teachers know her. She's currently working for an advertising agency, so the schedule is crazy at times." He said as he placed the bottle in the table in front of him and was now placing Kaguya over his shoulder as he rubbed her back. "I still take care of my nephew from time to time, but as much as she can, my sister does everything now."

"Is her husband the usual type of man who doesn't want anything to do with children?" she said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Immediately, Kagura knew she said something wrong as a dark mood suddenly surrounded Okita, and his focus was on the table right in front of him, glaring down at it as he kept on rubbing her little sister's back. "… My sister is unmarried, Sakata."

_Oh, crap._ "I-I… s-sorry. Didn't mean to say something weird…" who would've thought that today would be the day she would apologize to the person she hates so much?

_Must be something I ate… or I'm becoming kind to him because of what he's doing for my siblings. I'll go for the former. There's no way I'll ever be nice to this jerk…!_

"It's not a big deal." He mumbled, but she knew better.

It was obvious that the subject was a sore topic for him, so she sighed, wondering what the hell she should do to at least lighten the mood. Damn Okita, but he was infecting her current mood with his gloominess! "When you're done with Kaguya, can you get Kintarou? I bet he's hungry. He's the silent type between these two." At least, she hopes, this would distract him.

" 'Kay." After a rather loud burp from Kaguya, which made him smile a little, he placed the silver-haired girl in her elder sister's arms before walking to the room where the other male twin was located.

Inside, Sougo sighed to himself, trying to shake away the bad thoughts that he used to associate with his nephew. Three years ago, he had resented his sister for the mistake she had committed by getting herself pregnant. The man she had identified as the father of her child kept on refusing to marry her, saying that both of them had talked about it already, and that 'she shouldn't expect anything from him', and that also meant marriage. Despite that, she still kept seeing the man, knowing that whatever she did to try and please him, she would _never_ get anything more from him, other than money for child support, and legitimacy, as his nephew Nozomu was currently registered under his father's family registry. [1]

How he hated that man.

They've seen each other a couple of times, and it usually ended with him punching that guy in the face. _Aneue_ would get angry at him, but he couldn't care less about her feelings for that guy. Even if she still loves the father of her child, he hates his guts.

Hijikata Toshirou was a grade-A asshole, and that was that.

Peering over to the bassinet, he found Kintarou wide awake. As soon as the golden-haired baby saw him, he started making baby noises and raised his arms impatiently, as if demanding that the person looking at him carry him _right this instant_. Sougo shook his head, but picked up the baby anyway and placed him in his arms carefully.

Sometimes, it still amused him to see babies getting attached to him. It was a weird ability he had ever since he had first held his nephew, and still continued on until this day, this ability being the one thing he really couldn't stand. He watched kids who came in contact with him suddenly get themselves attached to him, much to his embarrassment. Besides kids, even the most hostile and harshest animals become docile whenever he tried to pet them.

It was a very unmasculine trait if one went about the social norms, but he couldn't care less about that. If kids and animals like him, that was enough for him.

At least he knew he really wasn't rotten inside.

"Come on, you must be hungry." He said to the younger male as he made his way back to the couch and found Sakata with a crying Kaguya.

"Oi, help me out!"

He rushed forward, careful not to startle Kintarou with the sudden change of speed in his walking. "This guy's hungry too. I'll need you to feed Kaguya."

"H-how?!"

He steadied his hold on Kintarou by cradling him on his right forearm. After placing a bottle in Kintarou's eager mouth and letting the bottle rest on his torso, he said, "Put your sister on my other arm and use your left hand to feed her."

After settling Kaguya in his other arm, the older of the two girls in the room gave him an amazed look. "… She seems to calm down when you're holding her. What am I doing wrong…"

_Don't tell me you're gonna resent me for this too_. "Takes practice, I guess."

"I see…"

Silence permeated the air, and Kagura ended up staring at the television in front of them. To end the awkward silence, she switched it on and ended up watching a documentary about a lake in Hokkaido called 'Lake Touya' [2]. Somehow, the documentary had drawn her in, and by the end of it, she took a look at her companion to ask him what he wanted for dinner. To her surprise, Okita Sougo was fast asleep, the twins in his arms wide awake and staring at the person who was cradling them both in his arms.

His head was tilted sideways, and he kept slipping to his right, waking himself up to straighten up, only to fall sideways again. Fed up with his stupid gestured that annoyed her, she pulled him and forced his head down on her shoulders, and this time around, he didn't wake up anymore. He snored softly, not like how her dad snored (like a damn steamboat), but somehow, it was soothing, and was slowly lulling her to sleep…

* * *

"Thanks for that wonderful dinner." Tsukuyo said as she stepped inside their home, kissing Gintoki as soon as he closed the door. "I had fun."

"Better not let your daughter hear that. She might resent you." They gave out a low chuckle and made their way to the living room to greet their eldest and Shinpachi when the sight before them shocked them into a stupor.

Kagura was fast asleep, her head rest against some unfamiliar individual's head, as his head was resting on her shoulder. The twins were in the stranger's arms, both fast asleep, and surprisingly, the two youngest members of their family looked like they were snuggling towards the stranger.

"Ah, that guy…" Gintoki trailed off.

"Hmmm?"

"Okita Sougo, Kagura's classmate." At this, Gintoki's wife's amethyst-colored irises began gleaming with excitement, took out her mobile phone, pressed her finger on the speakers of her phone, and took a photo. After the loud snap, she checked if the two were still asleep, and upon confirmation of their breathing, she took another photo again.

"… Tsukki, what the heck are you planning…" Gintoki asked, though he knew the answer to that question.

"Shush. This is the first time a young man visits the house who isn't Shinpachi." She smiled at the taken photo. "This is for souvenir purposes."

Gintoki sighed and walked over to the couch area where he picked up an empty bottle of milk before returning to the blonde lady's side. "Kinda surprises me that this guy knows how to handle babies." He remarked.

"That's cute." Tsukuyo cooed. "He went here just for her."

"Is he a stalker or what? If he is, I'd want a restraining order for him. He must stay away at least 50 meters away from our daughter and—" at this, his wife elbowed him at the ribs and shushed him. "What?!"

"Shinpachi messaged me to say that he couldn't make it because Otae-chan had a relapse. He was sending a friend in his stead, but assured me that Okita Sougo knew how to take care of babies." She told him.

"Ah. Still, for him to come here all the way… that's something."

"Reminds me of a certain someone who would sometimes bike from Setagaya to Inagi just to visit me." [3] At this, Gintoki blushed and glared at her.

"It's not like I wanted to visit you or anything—" before he could continue on with his _tsundere_ tirade, the mother of his twins pulled him by the collar of his dress shirt to kiss him on the lips.

"Shush, you'll wake them up." She said after she broke away from the kiss.

"Let them. It's nearly ten, and they have school tomorrow." Tsukuyo jolted upon realization that the young man still sleeping on their couch would still have to journey back to his home. Immediately, she walked up to him and shook him awake. A light shake, and he was awake.

"Hi. I'm Kagura's mother, Tsukuyo." She gave out a gentle smile at the sleepy-eyed Sougo. "Thank you for taking care of my kids."

Sougo suddenly straightened up. "Oh, umm… hello. I'm Okita Sougo, Ka—I mean, your daughter's classmate." He was unsure whether to call Sakata Kagura by her first name or not, but he didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea, so he decided to go for something more neutral.

"Ah, yes, Shinpachi has told me about you." She said, holding out her arm to retrieve her look-alike, Kintarou. "I'm so sorry for the trouble—"

He shook his head. "No, it's… fine. I wasn't doing anything anyway, and Shimura asked for a favor. I couldn't turn it down." _Not to mention it was an excuse for me to see her outside of school._ A light press on his left shoulder, and he realized that the girl he had feelings for was now leaning against his shoulder. Trying to control his blush, he used his free hand to gently lower her head to the couch's throw pillow, which did not go unnoticed. Tsukuyo grinned to herself.

Looks like he had manners, despite the nonchalant vibe he portrays.

"Still, thank you. Would you like anything? Food? Drinks?" at the shake of his head, Tsukuyo gave him a puzzled look. "Are you really sure…? I'm really sorry for the trouble."

"Yes. I need to go home. My sister is probably waiting for me. And don't worry… it was really no trouble at all." With Kaguya still in his arms, he stood up, held her gently, and passed her on to the silver-haired man standing tall in the living room. When Sougo stood in front of him and deposited the little girl in the awaiting man's arms, Sakata Gintoki smirked at him.

"Nice to officially meet you, kid. I'm Sakata Gintoki, Kagura's _father_." He said, emphasizing the last word. He saw the younger male wince and chuckled silently to himself.

"… Nice to meet you too, sir." He muttered.

"Gintoki is fine. Anyway, come by again sometime and watch over the twins. At least Shinpachi has a substitute babysitter now." He joked.

Sougo shrugged. "Excuse me." He bowed to both of them before seeing himself out, but not before Sadaharu bolted up to follow him. While he put on his shoes, Sadaharu kept on licking his face, which he paid no attention to. After making sure his sneakers were all tied, he exited the door. After checking that he had indeed left, Gintoki looked at his wife. "Well?"

"He should stay here for dinner next time."

* * *

"Are you free tomorrow night?"

The voice who had asked him the question caught him off-guard to the point that he looked up from his bag to see Sakata looking at him with disgusting. Though her voice disguised it, it was very obvious that she was not happy with what she was doing, which was talking to him. After last night, she had been distant, ignoring him whenever she could, and never talking to him during class, but now that she had been forced to talk to him, he couldn't help but wonder what made her talk now.

_Act cool._

"I think I am. Is there… I mean, something the matter?" he asked, coughing a bit before standing up to meet her gaze.

"Yeah, well… mom is inviting you over for dinner, and she asked me to ask you." she grumbled.

"Oh." at this, Okita blinked, confused that Tsukuyo was inviting him back over so quickly. He had been telling her before that it had been no trouble babysitting the twins, and honestly, he did not expect this outcome at all.

"Are you… going?" she asked in a grumbling manner.

_'Damn it, this is difficult. If I refuse, she'll call me arrogant. If I go, she'll keep complaining that I'll be ruining her night.'_ he thought, wondering why the hell he fell for someone so complicated as her. Try as he might, he really couldn't get over her, no matter how hard he tried.

_'Hell. I'll go for it.'_ Out loud, he said, "I'll be going."

As expected, she sighed, shaking her head, and glared at the nearby object, which happened to be his desk. "Okay then. I'll tell mom you're going tomorrow."

"Uh, thanks." he said awkwardly.

"Don't be late." she snapped before heading out of the classroom, her school bag slung over her left shoulder, leaving a bewildered Okita.

_Why is she pissed?! What the hell did I do now?!_

* * *

Notes:

[1] as his nephew Nozomu was currently registered under his father's family registry – in Japan, if the father and the mother are not married, the only way to legitimize the child is to put him or her in the family registry of the father. Putting him or her in the mother's family registry is equal to telling everyone that the child is illegitimate.

[2] a lake in Hokkaido called 'Lake Touya' – Touya-ko, the name of Gintoki's wooden weapon and a real lake in Hokkaido

[3] Reminds me of a certain someone who would sometimes bike from Setagaya to Inagi just to visit me. – Setagaya is a special ward in Tokyo while Inagi is a city in Tokyo. Setagaya to Inagi is around 15 kilometers/9.3 miles.

* * *

Thank you for reading! If you all don't mind, I hope you can drop me a review and tell me what you think of this chapter!


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